Sundae dish holder



June 11, 1957 A. TREFF 2,795,120

' SUNDAE DISH HOLDER Filed April 15, 1951 i ggWL INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS.

United States SUNDAE DISH HOLDER Alfred Treff, Chicago, Ill'., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Solo Cup Company, Chicago, Ill., a-corporation of Delaware Application April 13, 1951, SrialNo. 220,873

1 Claim. (Cl. 65-61) This application relates to a dish holder and it-relates more particularly to an adapter designed to begripped in position of use for conversion of a cup holder into a holder for paper dishes and the'like.

,At' the present time, separate holders are supplied for use in supporting paper cups of various sizes and for paper dishes of variouscontours. This practice requires a fairly large inventory and supply of holders such that considerable space is taken up where space in the home or. behind the soda fountain are at a premium. The presence ofsuch holders of various shapes and" sizes also presents an unsightly appearance and considerable material is tie'dup which, coupled with an extensive investment,,makes this practice undesirable.

It: would be preferred. to have a holder which can be used'interchangeably for various cup sizes or. dishes-so that one or two modifications can be stocked for use in all services demanded.

It is an object of this invention to accomplish this end by the use of adapters" which can be temporarily joined with at specific holder for adapting the holder to a" specific" use.

It is another object of this invention. to produce" an adapter of. the type described which: iscapable of? being formedof low-cost materials, whiclr'is' firmly gripped in position of use to impart an assembled relation which resists inadvertent displacement, which can be stocked in large numbers and in neatly stacked: columns from "which the" uppermost can be removed without handling:- and with a minimum of effort. for adjustment into the'p'ositi'on of use, and which provides adequate supportfor'the dish; and means for anchoringsamein position ot-"use;

These/and other objects and. advantages of this invenfirm will hereinafter appear, and for purposes 'ofillustration, but not of limitation, .an embodiment of this invention: is shown in the accompanying drawingin which- Fig. 1 is a perspective elevational' view of an'asse'mbly embodying features of thisinventi'on with partsi broken awaymore clearly to. illustrate. the position of various elements;

, Fig. 2 is 'a' top plan..view ofa dishlmember adapted for u'se 'inthe: practice of. this. invention} 'Fig. 3 'ista sectionalelevationa'liview through tlie assembly shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an elevational view illustrating one method of use of the modified cup holder for securing a dish therein in position of use; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Description of this invention will be made by way of reference to a cup holder embodying features described and claimed in my co-pending applications, Serial No. 212,133 and Serial No. 212,134, filed on February 21, 1951, now Patents No. 2,723,541 and No. 2,661,610, respectively. Briefly described, the holder, a modification of which is shown in the drawing, comprises a tubular x Patented June 11, 1957 ice 2, member 10 having an outwardly extending upper end ortion 11 through which a cup is adapted to" extend, when in position of use, and a'lower'e'nd portion 12" which telescopes in fittingi relation about an annular ring 1?" which extends upwardly from the inner end of a ledge 14 upon which the lowerend'ot the tubular membei'rests. The ledge 14 extends inwardly'allaround rrom'thenp'per' end of a tubular section 15 which extends upwardly from an outwardly flared baselothat is adapted to rest upon a supporting surface. I Theiipperend portion 11 of the tubular member" is" adapted to be dimensioned to correspond with the internal diameter of the tubular section 15 so as to permit telescoping therein' to the extent limited by the ledge 14 for stacking" the holde'r'sone on top of the other in anefficient and etreetivemaiiaer. For gripping the outer wall of the cup'when in position of use, there is provided a member infthe form of a cylindrical section 17 which may be fabricated ofone or two or more int'erfitting pieces having a lower end portion 18 adapted to seat within an annular groove 19 formed'between the inner wall of the tubular section and a lip 20 extending inwardly and upwardly from the upper portion of the section 13. Extending inwardly from the cylindrical section 17and in vert-icallyspaced apart relationare a plurality of shelves formed of resilient, highly flexible material, suchas rubber, having openings in the central portion thereof which decrease in dimension from the upper shelf 21' to the lower shelf 25'theopenings therein defininga frusto conical shape substantially corresponding to the shape of the cup member adapted to be positioned therein but smaller than thecross-section of the cup located therein when in the position of use; Asa result, when the cupis actuated into. position of use,.the adjacent edge portions ofthe gripping. shelves are eachturned" downto effect an area of? engagement between the top side of the shelves and the outside wall of the cup, thereby to increase' the frictional gripping: relation while distributing theforce over a greater area to minimize deformation of the cup. The openings are preferably dimensioned to permit the-up'per portion. of theinser-ted cup to-restonthe upperedge of the cylindrical section 11 when the desired gripping-re"- lation has been established; with the gripping members. It will be understood that for purposes of this invention, more than the three shelves 2'1, 22 and 23 can be-used, but thatit willbe sufficient if lessthan three, or-even one such gripping shelf formed of resilientor rubber-like material,-is used to-establish thedesi-red gripping relation. In accordance with this invention, anattachment or adapteris provided-for'use witha-cup-holderof-thetype described" temporarily to convertthe cup holder into a saucer or dish holder. For this purpose, the adapter is formed of rigid material, such" as-metal, plastiesor the like, with an inverted frusto-conical section 30; contoured' to correspond with the general outline of the cup for which the holder is adapted,'so that the frusto-conical section can be inserted" in the same-manner asthe cup into theh'older," into ripping engagement with the" re silient shelf or shelves 21, 22 and 23, and the outside wall of the frusto-conical section, while the upper portion thereof rests upon the upper edge 11 of the cylindrical section 10 for additional support. The frustoconical section may have a length greater than that necessary for extending down between the gripping shelves, but it is preferred to limit same to reach the last of the gripping members so as to take full advantage of the frictional force available. The ends of the frusto-conical section are preferably allowed to remain open to facilitate cleaning and for conservation of material as well as to permit stacking, as will hereinafter be pointed out.

Integral with the upper edge of the frusto-conical section 30 is an outwardly flared, relatively shallow, section 31, or skirt, having a slope corresponding to that of the saucer or dish member 32 adapted to be supported thereon. By leaving the upper end 33 of the, frustoconical section 30 open, the central portion of the dish may extend below the lower edge of the shirt for con finement withinithe upper end portion of the inverted frusto-conical section, as shown in Fig. 3.

A saucer or dish member suitable for use with an adapter of the type described may be formed of a paper blank having tapered, overlapping portions 34, as indicated in Fig. 2, for providing a flat central base 35, and upwardly and outwardly extending walls 36 integral with the edge thereof. A portion 37 of the dish extending beyond the edge of the skirt 31, when in position of use, may be turned down to establish a better seating relationship which militates against inadvertent removal by air currents or the like.

Various means may be provided in the adapter for temporarily anchoring the dish in position of use. One such anchoring means embodying features of this invention comprises one or more, and preferably about four, clips 38 arranged in equidistantly spaced-apart relation on the upper edge portion of the skirt. The clips may have one edge portion 39 secured, as by rivets 40 or other securing means, to the upper wall of the skirt portion while the opposite edgeportion 41 is offset to extend circumferentially in closely spaced-apart relation with the adjacent surface of the skirt. In the anchored relation, the folds 34 of the dish member are adapted to be inserted within the space defined by the offset section 41 to militate against removal of the dish from position of use until intentionally turned to retract the fold from its confining slot.

Because of the tapered or frusto-conical contour of the adapter, it is possible to stack a large number of adapters by telescoping the frusto-conical sections into each other.

When the stack is arranged with the bottom side up so as to place the frusto-conical section uppermost, assembly of the adapter into the cup holder may be effected simply by pressing the inverted cup holder downwardly over the uppermost adapter in the stack. In this manner, the uppermost adapter will be gripped by the holder and removed from the stack such that assembly can be quickly and easily efi'ected, without requiring the operator to handle the adapter.

Similarly, a plurality of paper dishes folded or otherwise formed to shape, may be stacked in inverted relation to form a neat column 42,. as shown in Fig. 4. When it is desired to position a dish in the modified cup holder, it is only necessary to invert the cup holder and place the adapter over the uppermost dish and then turn the cup holder untilthe folds are engaged by the clips. Then the cup holder can be removed with the adapter and dish fixed therein in position of use.

Although it is more sanitary to follow the simplified steps described, it is possible for the adapter and dish to be positioned by separately handling each, although it is best first to position the adapter and then the dish. When use thereof has been completed, the dish may be turned loose and discarded, and the adapter lifted from the holder to withdraw the inverted frusto-conical section from between the gripping members. Because of the open structure, the adapter may be rinsed and cleansed in an expedient manner.

It will be understood that the invention herein is not limited to the shape of the dish or the size of the dish, and that numerous changes may be made in details of construction, arrangement and operation, without departing from the spirit of the invention, especially as defined in the following claim:

I claim:

In combination, a cup holder having a base, a cylindrical housing extending upwardly from the base and a plurality of resilient gripping members extending inwardly from the housing to define a frusto-conical opening the largest dimension of said opening being at the top for receiving and gripping a comically-shaped cup inserted therebet ween, an adapter for temporary conversion of the cup holder into a holder for a saucer having a flat bottom wall and outwardly flared side walls extending upwardly continuously from the outer edges of the bottom wall and which said fiared side walls are formed with folds, the adapter comprising a frusto-conical section having the end of smaller dimension lowermost with the end of larger dimension uppermost and dimensioned in cross-section to be received in the cup receiving opening of the cup holder in gripped relation, an annular flared rim extending outwardly and upwardly continuously from the upper edge of the frusto-conical section, and means for holding the saucer onto the adapter including a clip having one end secured to the rim while the other end portion extends circumferentially in closely spaced apart relation with the adjacent portions of the rim for receiving folds of the saucer.

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